Is Ford Paying or NOT?!!!

mchan68 · June 1, 2008

Well, as of today, with all the reading through the posts about all the claims getting bounced because we are being accused of "over repairing", my question is, "Is Ford paying or NOT?!!!" If I recall correctly, not too long ago, Ford introduced an EXTENDED warranty package called, "Dieselcare" which is/was supposed to enable the customer to extend the warranty to 200,000 kms. for about $1,800. Now, we're told that Ford is NOT paying, so what gives? I'm a little confused here. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif

snw blue by you · June 4, 2008

They just gave one of those warrantys to one of our customers to keep him happy, however it was for 200,000 miles

This was the '08 E-350 that had 2600 miles and had multiple injector electrical failure, then the cherry on the sundae was one of the replacements was NG and I had to pull bank 2 apart again.

Left the body on for the re-repair, wished I hadn't.

Yeah, they'll pay, just not the dealerships.

mchan68 · June 5, 2008

Yeah, they'll pay, just not the dealerships.

Yeah, well then WHO pays? US? FUCK THAT!!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif

LARRY BRUDZYNSKI · June 5, 2008

Is this a actual Ford ESP, or is it a A/M service contract.

Aaron · June 5, 2008

It's a Ford/ESP type warranty, it's not an aftermarket deal like some of the other crap out there.

Keith Browning · June 28, 2008

I have been waiting to chime in on this as I have been watching the warranty situation ramp up and it has now reached a disgusting level. I am convinced that Ford has chosen to cut warranty expenses by a certain percentage and administrating warranty claims as an insurance company might. I know someone at Ford that has expressed the same concern almost word for word.

"Many claims will be denied using any excuse backed by the warranty policy manual, sometimes very loosely too. You will have to fight to get some claims paid, many will never stand a chance despite the appeals process."

Later adding: "If you replace more than one injector you had better perform and document the Balloon test and the results."

Ford wised up that many dealers were replacing multiple injectors and claiming them against rusty fuel tanks backed by the 40 gallon aft-axle tank vent TSB. The tanks are no longer covered and it will likely take a consumer action or a recall for Ford to even admit that the tanks are in fact, defective.

As for us, there are many techs who have been mis-diagnosing, replacing good parts and abusing the policies. Not all of us but enough to cause problems. Now, we all have to suffer because instead of addressing the problem directly by going after the dealers/technicians who are the problem Ford has changed it's approach entirely.

Conventional wisdom has taught us to play their game. Now we have to raise our game and make sure we are on offense from the moment we a customer contacts the dealer to the time the warranty clerk clicks the submit button. Otherwise, simply being on defense will no longer be enough.

If you think for a minute that this is not going to get any worse - just wait. I am sure we haven't seen anything yet!

G. Bedford · June 28, 2008

Interesting that every tech is supposed to be diesel certified, so wouldn't it be reasonable to think you could pinpoint the offending parties? The high numbers could be linked to the individual, no?

Remember the original Diesel spin event? Well, the highest payout went to a tech that earned around $1500. Next tech up was around half that and the rest lower. Ford suits lauded the techs' high number as a show of how successful the promo was. No one mentioned that he may have "gamed" the system. As a diesel tech it didn't pass my smell test, but maybe I'm just jealous. Yeah, that's what it is.

My feeling is the better techs will slowly leave out of frustration and Ford will be left with the thieves and hacks. Good techs will try to work within the new rules and be overwhelmed. The others will simply exploit new loop holes.

Jeff_E · June 28, 2008

When we started getting hosed by aftermarket warranties, the solution was simple: Have the customer authorize plenty of diag/tear-down time in the event "Sleazycare" decided not to cover it. That way the dealer gets paid either way, and the only one who gets hurt, is the customer who bought the crappy warranty to begin with. ~Sorry sir, you are now a victim of natural selection~

If Ford wants to act like a sleazy aftermarket warranty, the solution is simple: TREAT THEM LIKE ONE. It won't take long for Ford's PR department to realize the vast scope of the consumer insurrection, when they get an earful from enough of their customers who had to pay out of pocket for something that should have been covered by warranty. This would make for a whole ton of bad press, which, happens to be about the only thing that will make ford realize that they had damn well better stop squeezing the dealers, and find better ways to return to profitability. In fact, I have a suggestion to do exactly that - Get rid of the bean counting department all together. You know, the one that has completely failed in it's foolhardy venture of attempting to keep the company in the black by squeezing techs. Instead, they should direct those bean counting funds into building products in house. Can they really blame the dealership techs, when it was Ford's idea to buy VT365's from Navistar, program them with software that produces enough power to compete with the engines GM and Dodge have specifically developed for their trucks (far more power than VT365's ever had in Navistar applications mind you), and pray that F Series customers won't break em...or worse, soup them up even more with a vast assortment of readily available aftermarket devices, and cause untold litigation expenses when the inevitable happens. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/2cents.gif

Some may say that such a radical idea of charging customers for un-reimbursed warranty work would violate the dealer franchise agreement. I would submit to you however, that Ford's failure to reimburse dealers for ANY of the legitimate warranty work they perform, is already a violation of that agreement. There are only 2 kinds of work: Warranty, and Customer pay. Any pro-bono is at the discretion of the independently owned franchise... NOT mandated by the manufacturer. Therefore, if Ford declines to pay for something, it implies that Ford has determined the repair falls into a CP category for whatever reason - Aye Aye Captain!!! We'll just get a credit card number from all customers prior to doing any repair, and charge the ones Ford deems not covered by warranty. And we will make damn sure the customers know who to blame. It is hard enough to work on these things even when we do get paid, I certainly don't do it for fun. Time is money, and my time ain't cheap.

If they think their warranty costs are high now, just wait till they piss off enough of the experienced technicians they spent all this time and money training. We are free agents after all, and at this point, some of us wouldn't require a huge push to cause us to just give up and change brands. I have a feeling that using a bunch of lube techs with "interactive diagnostics"- while looking good on paper to the illustrious bean counters, will actually cost a whole hell of a lot more. Can you tell I'm pissed? I've never worked on a Cummins or Duramax, but I have no doubt that that after all the 6.0/6.4's I've fixed, I could certainly learn how If I ever get short changed for no good reason. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/ford.gif

Note to Ford: You are better than a sleazy aftermarket warranty, so for your own sake start acting like it. If you go down this path there is no coming back.

Jim's venting rants are contagious /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif I think I feel better now.